Freewheelin-On-Line Take Ten
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freewheelin-on-line take ten 1 Freewheelin’ 208 December 2002 The backdrop to the last cover of Freewheelin for 2002 is taken from one of the last paintings by the American Abstract Expressionist painter Barnett Newman (1905- 1970). The painting is entitled ‘BE I (Second version)’ and was painted by Newman in the last year of his life. It is also the last painting in the Barnett Newman exhibitions that were held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art between March and July 2002 and the Tate Modern, London between September 2002 and January 2003. Newman’s paintings have a distinctive style – they are usually vast expanses of colour that have a vertical line or ‘zip’ that split the compositions into sections. Those ‘zips’ could represent all manner of images, from a light giving source to the separation of man from God to the division of race to the break down of a relationship or of a mind. As the following extract from the introduction to the Tate Modern collection suggests however, it is impossible to properly represent the emotion of these paintings by reproduction: ‘Newman’s paintings are impossible to grasp from reproductions. They require us to stand before them, close enough to experience all their nuances of colour and structure’. Newman himself often compared the ‘visual experience of the painting’ to an ‘encounter . .with a person, a living being’. We encounter three persons who are standing in front of ‘BE I(Second Version)’. The first is Bob Dylan, actually only the left side of Bob Dylan, separated as he is by Newman’s zip from the other side of his Gemini twin. The other two people are from the Monty Python team, one of whom appears to be pointing straight at you but actually the way he his holding his forefinger and thumb together may mean that he has just stood in front of a Barnett Newman painting and has measured the width of a ‘zip’! 2 Freewheelin-on-line take ten (freewheelin’ 208) Page 4 Magnetic Movements Video by Chris Cooper 6 20 Pounds of Headlines by Mark Carter The Continuing Chronicle of Bob Dylan in the Press. 8 The Two Riders Approaching by Two Riders 12 Ignore This Instruction by Jim Gillan 15 Yet Another Top Ten by Chris Cooper 18 Return Of The Native by Chris Hockenhull 21 Worthless Foam From The Mouth by Mark Carter 24 2002 Top Ten by Paula Radice 27 Hipsters Flipsters & Finger Poppin Daddies by C P Lee 33 Ten For 2002 by Richard Lewis 35 More Bob Dylan Top Ten Pillbox Hats by Neil Watson 39 Like Judas Kissing Flowers by Robert Forryan 42 The Missionary Times by J R Stokes 47 The Sad Dylan Fans by Mark Carter All of the quotations from copyrighted works in this publication are strictly for the purpose of legitimate review and criticism only. With regard to photographs, every effort has been made to identify the owner. If you are able to enlighten us please do so, and you will be credited the following issue. 3 Distance Audio Steadiness Heads Focus Image 1 1/2 screen 1 Not in pic 80% No pic ! L=left 2 3/4 screen 2 In pic 25 % 70% Out of focus C= Center 3 Full length 3 in pic 50 % 60% Mostly blurred R=Right 4 Knees 4 In pic 75 % 50% Bit Blurry 1-9 10% angle 5 Thighs 5 In pic 100% 40% Goes in and out B=balcony 6 Waist 6 In pic moves 30% Soft Focus S=Stalls 7 Mid Chest 7 steady hand 20% Mostly In Focus PRO=TV 8 Head/Shoulders 8 monopod steady 10% Near Perfect D = Dark 9 Head 9 perfect Never Perfect Another quiet month folks. Hopefully this drought will be changing soon now that Dylan is once again on the road in Australia. Not much new this month otherwise. Actually the only truly new item of course is the new video for the single “Cross The Green Mountain” currently available as a DVD if you buy the Soundtrack album. You will find amore detailed mention of this elsewhere in this issue. I would grab it while you can. But fear not, looking through the dusty files and boxes I have located a few items that seem to have slipped past the net on the first occasion. Here they are. D7 A8 S7 H7 F7 I BL5 20-06-98 ARENA NEWCASTLE 79.00 Gotta Serve Somebody /If Not For You/ Cold Irons Bound/ Simple Twist Of Fate / Silvio / To Ramona /Masters Of War /Love Minus Zero/No Limit /Tangled Up In Blue /Forever Young /A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall /Highway 61 Revisited /ove Sick /Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35 A superb gig, a shame the video is not a little steadier, if it was I would say this was pretty essential, But as it is.. 4 D5 A8 S9 H8 F 8 I BC3 02-04-95 ASTON VILLA, BIRMINGHAM 101:00 Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood) /Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues/All Along The Watchtower/ What Good Am I ? /Tombstone Blues/ Tears Of Rage /Mr. Tambourine Man/ Desolation Row /To Ramona /Highway 61 Revisited /Jokerman/ Lenny Bruce ///Like A Rolling Stone /It Ain't Me, Babe Yet another good film from this show. This captures the entire show and is very very steady. It is not as sharp as some and arguably the sound is a little more boomy here but this is still a very nice film and one to look out for. Why has it taken so long to get here you ask? (OK I ask) Well. I really have no idea at all. D6 A8 S7 H8 F 7 I BR5 11-12-95 BEACON THEATRE, NEW YORK CITY 84:00 Drifter's Escape / Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power) /All Along The Watchtower /Tears Of Rage / Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) /Silvio /Mr. Tambourine Man /Masters Of War / Mama, You Been On My Mind /Dark Eyes /Jokerman /Highway 61 Revisited ///Alabama Getaway /Girl Of The North Country /Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35 This is a much nicer find than may at first be obvious. Sure it could be a bit sharper and a bit closer but the view is generally clear and it captures “Dark Eyes” so well. It still seem inappropriate to me to see Patti Smith so feminine attired. She is really affectionate to Bob to on this, getting very close at times and kissing him at the end. Can’t say it is essential stuff but is certainly good to see. Till Next Time Chris Cooper 5 Here we are in December and I’m finally listing some of the February 2002 concert reviews. Firstly though, there’s a handful of Love and Theft reviews to put to bed. Imagine – by the time you read this the album will be almost eighteen years old. Firstly, Paul Williams turned his attention to it for the Spring 2002 issue of Crawdaddy! in a lengthy and nicely written essay; “…It’s such a listenable record. The sound, the melodies, the feel, the connectedness of it all….I like the way it all hangs together and becomes a single experience, single narrative in some mysterious and pleasing way that’s not easily pointed to or articulated.” Grayson Currin, on Technician Online, gave a very personal view and review in the wake of September 11th. Not a unique concept – I’ve read dozens of ‘em – but this is a bit special; “…it is the most profound and arguably the best album of 2001. It is a reinvention of Bob Dylan, and it is an epic enter of optimism for a world beset by needless suffering. Love and Theft will forever remain an album that helped me cope with the ugly magnitude of a truly tragic day.” Grant Moon of the UK’s Classic Rock magazine awarded it five stars; “As he remembers what got him into all this music lark in the first place, his sheer love of song has rarely been so infectious.” Two Norwegian reviews also praised it to the skies and beyond. Dagbladet’s Øyvind Rønning gave it six out of six and Aftenposten’s Knut Utler was impressed that it reminded him of Tom Waits and Leon Redbone. Onto the February reviews now, beginning with the Orlando Sentinel’s Jim Abbott trekking along to a sparsely populated TD Waterhouse Centre gig. He enjoyed the Love and Theft material but felt that some of the older material “exposed his deteriorating vocal range”. Still, as the review concludes, “Dylan’s ability to evolve and his songwriting transcend such nitpicking. And when he closed with Blowin’ In The Wind, it’s questions seemed more relevant than ever.” The Miami Herald’s Evelyn McDonnell was not so impressed with Dylan’s performance at Sunrise’s National Car Rental Center, calling the show “often lackluster”, Dylan’s voice as “hoarse, with limited range” and the half empty arena as proof that Dylan may be getting “exactly the disinterest he says he wants.” For all that, she did enjoy Searching For A Soldier’s Grave and John Brown, concluding that “the evening was not without it’s subtle commentary”. At the same venue, the Sun-Sentinel’s Jennifer Peltz enjoyed the “two-plus hours of some of the most electrifying music of his career” and reckoned that the show proved that Dylan “isn’t ready to be consigned to legend yet.” Gina Vivinetto of the St.